Recommended Anthropomorphics (2013)

Back on July 21 last year, I described here the Ursa Major Awards for the best in anthropomorphic literature and art of the year, in eleven categories. The two categories that are pertinent to this site are those for anthropomorphization in motion pictures, and in “dramatic short work or series”. Theoretically these could include non-animated works, but there are few motion pictures with anthropomorphic characters – animals or objects such as vehicles or toys – that do not involve animation. There are more dramatic short works or series that do not involve animation – puppet films or stage plays, Fursuit films, and radio dramas – but the chances of them receiving enough nominations or votes for the award are extremely slim. Unlike the other categories such as novel or comic strip, the best anthropomorphic motion pictures and dramatic short works (short films) or series (TV programs) are pretty well guaranteed to be animated.

The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA), of which I am the Secretary, also administers the “Recommended Anthropomorphics List” every year. Anyone can recommend a work for the Recommended List, and people often refer to the Recommended List when nominating for the Ursa Major Award, which is voted upon among the five works receiving the most nominations each year. 2013 has just rolled over to 2014, and here are the works receiving recommendations that were released during the 2013 calendar year.

Editor’s Note: When Fred first provided me with the following list of links to all the recommended nominations of his Anthropomorphic Association, I admit I became skeptical about this post. I’m no “furry”, but I do appreciate superior animated films – and to my delight and surprise, much of the material linked below is wonderful. I’ve embed just a small sample of these works – and I highly recommend you give some (or all) of the links a try. Don’t worry, you won’t suddenly “go furry”… but you just might just discover a new film, a new filmmaker or a new character much to your liking. – Jerry Beck

Best Dramatic Short Work or Series

These include TV series and short films or videos, and TV commercials featuring anthropomorphic characters.

If you want to nominate in these categories, or in the other Ursa Major Awards categories (Best Novel, Best Short Fiction, Best Other Literary Work (anthology or collection, non-fiction, etc.), Best Graphic Novel, Best Comic Strip, Best Magazine, Best Published Illustration, Best Website, and Best Game), go to http://www.ursamajorawards.org for instructions. Nominations are open from January 16, 2014 to February 28. Nominees do not have to be on the Recommended List if they are otherwise eligible. Voting is from March 15, 2014 to April 30 on the website above. The 2014 Ursa Major Awards will be presented in a ceremony at the CaliFur X convention, on May 30 to June 1, 2014 at the Irvine Marriott Hotel, 18000 Von Karman Avenue, Irvine, California 92612.

8 Comments

there’s nothing on this list that I feel I can really get behind and support.

I spend a large percentage of the disposable part of my income on cartoons and animation, but well over 90% of it is spent on collections of classic works. i’d be more than happy to spend that money supporting new works, but the companies that produce new works refuse to produce quality product.

since there’s a lull in here at the moment, would you please answer a question about an earlier post that you made?

in your post titled “cat girls” you mentioned a film titled “Osama no Shippo” (the king’s tail). I would very much like to find a copy of this film on dvd, but am having no luck finding one. could you please point me in the right direction?

Sorry, but I have never been able to find one myself. Admittedly, I have not looked in about ten years, but when I was helping to produce “Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel” for Jerry a decade ago, I spent a lot of time looking for a video copy of “The King’s Tail” for an illustration (also, I wanted to see it myself). I never found one. I finally had to settle for reprinting that one poor photograph from a 1970s Japanese magazine’s special issue about the history of Japanese animation. Considering how Toho refused to distribute it, and Seo never did any more animation, I wonder if Seo himself censored it out of existence long before the home video era?

Chris Sobieniak

January 28, 2014 9:16:00 am

It is a shame when these things happen Fred. I suppose I do sorta wonder that as well whether it was censored or simply lost in the shuffle.

I found mitsuyo seo’s “momtaro’s sea eagle” on dvd, but am having no luck finding “momtaro’s divine sea warriors” on dvd. does anybody know where you can buy it?

and while we’re on the subject of mitsuyo seo … according to Wikipedia:

“…After the war, Seo joined Nihon Manga Eigasha and made the film Ōsama no Shippo as a pro-democracy anime in 1949, but when Tōhō, which was supposed to distribute it, found it politically too leftist, the film was left without a distributor. Nihon Manga Eigasha went bankrupt and Seo, finding the conditions for animation in the immediate postwar too difficult, left the industry and became an illustrator for children’s books …”

does anyone know if this is the true reason that seo left the field of animation? I can’t help but wonder if he was perhaps blacklisted after the film lost distribution and the company he worked for went bankrupt. or perhaps he felt he had “lost face”, and could not bear to continue working in that profession?
it seems odd to me that a person as talented as he could/would leave the field entirely.

Not offhand. I remember that when I got the first issue of “Anime V” (for Video) back in 1985(?), “Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors” was one of the first Japanese VHS tapes listed in it; a couple of years old by that time. It cost the ¥ equivalent of $75.00 or $100.00, which was VERY expensive although all Japanese videos were priced for purchase by rental stores at the time, not for home purchase. “Momotaro” faded away; other anime was rereleased and rereleased over the years but not “Momotaro”. I saw it a couple years later (1986 or ’87) when Kent Butterworth, who had been in Tokyo supervising the animation of some American TV cartoon, came home with a video copy of it. He loaned it to several American animators until someone stole it, but I had borrowed it and made a copy of it by then. Fortunately, it is easily accessible on YouTube today (in 9 parts).

I do not know if Seo was specifically blacklisted, but I imagine that having directed the two major wartime propaganda cartoons for the Imperial Navy did not help his reputation. He was also a Communist, or had the reputation of being one; and his animation studio went bankrupt. That must have been enough to discourage anyone from continuing in the animation industry. I have not seen anything saying whether he was a successful childrens’ book illustrator or not.

My column for the next month or so will be about the early Japanese animated theatrical features, with weblinks to Seo’s “Momotaro’s Sea Eagles” and “Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors” on YouTube. Incidentally, the YouTube print of “Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors” is much better than the 1980s video copy. Either somebody found a better-condition print of it by the time it was put up on YouTube, or Shokichu was persuaded to restore the negative. The 1980s video looked like someone had found the only remaining, very decayed film print of it.

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WRITTEN BY FRED PATTEN

Fred Patten (1940-2018) was an internationally respected comics and animation historian. He has written about anime or comic books for publications ranging from Animation Magazine and Alter Ego to Starlog. He was a contributor to The Animated Movie Guide (2005), and is author of Watching Anime, Reading Manga (2004, Stone Bridge Press), a collection of his best essays, and Funny Animals and More (2014, Theme Park Press), based upon his early columns here on Cartoon Research. He passed away on November 12th, 2018.